Calvinism's Belief in Man's Inherent Ability I am Otis. I am teaching true Bible doctrine that is really, really, really not false. If you invertibrates have something even resembling a brain in that pathetic storehouse of knowledge you call a skull, you have doubtless by now realized that Arminianism and its man-centeredy-like theology is in fact the ROOT OF ALL EVIL!!! Arminianism teaches that God saves sinners based on qualities inherent within the sinner, and so is completely man-centered. Many Calvinists correctly point out this fact, but miss something in the process: When R.C. Sproul writes against that horrible doctrine called 'prevenient grace' in The Pelagian Captivity of the Church he says, The Church concluded that there still remains this freedom that is intact in the human will and that man must cooperate with - and assent to - the prevenient grace that is offered to them by God. If we exercise that will, if we exercise a cooperation with whatever powers we have left, we will be saved. And so in the sixteenth century the Church reembraced semi-Pelagianism. He tells why this doctrine is so evil: While we are so fallen that we can’t be saved without grace, we are not so fallen that we don’t have the ability to accept or reject the grace when it’s offered to us. That's right! Those Arminian blasphemers believe that people are saved by their inherent ability to respond to God's grace!!! How could you get more heretical?!? Arminians selfishly try to defend their vile doctrine by stating things like, "It's God's grace that frees us to respond to it," but I know that this is just a cheap double-talk jibber-jabber cop-out, because it is. No matter what they try to use to defend their stewpidditee, they are still forced to acknowledge that in their beliefs, they have the inherent ability to be allowed to be given the ability to have the choice of whether they will respond to prevenient grace or not, making it man-centered!! It's so easy, why can't they see it? If they have the ability to be 'freed by grace,' then that's still salvation contingent upon human ability. R.C. Sproul was correct about their heretical leanings, but has unfortunately himself fallen prey to man-centered theology as well; elsewhere he says things like, But we can’t even believe until God in his grace and in his mercy first changes the disposition of our souls through his sovereign work of regeneration. In other words, what the reformers all agreed with was, unless a man is born again, he can’t even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it. ...the sinner’s entire salvation is by free and sovereign grace only... Bobby rightly condemns the man-centered Arminian view of having the inherent ability to respond to grace, but then falls into the same trap himself!! Just look at what he's writing! He talks about 'salvation' and 'regeneration' within the sinner, but such a view has a fatal flaw: Sproul has just replaced the utterly depraved Arminian doctrine of prevenient grace with a doctored up, but still man-centered doctrine of 'regeneration prior to faith'! Why is it man-centered? Because his view must assume that men have the inherent ability to be regenerated by God!!! That's right, we have this island of 'potential righteousness' that God will just magically drop faith on. If Semi-Arminians such as Bobby understood the God-exalting, man-debasing view of salvation presented in the Bible, they would understand that there isn't even the potential for true righteousness or faith within the corrupt human spirit! That little island that can contain faith and new life is a myth, and only a God-dethroning man worshipper would say otherwise! This evil so-called 'Calvinist' doctrine (that's really just more semi-Arminianism) simply replaces people being 'potentially freed by grace' with people being 'potentially receivers of regeneration,' thus elevating man to a position of being able to contain God's righteousness in his sinful self. And so Calvinists make sinful men into little 'containers of righteousness and faith' just waiting to be filled with life, and having the inherent ability to receive it. This is nothing more than salvation by merits, for in their scheme one's salvation is dependent upon this little island of 'potential righteousness' that God just spiritually terraforms. If they understood true biblical doctrine like me, they would know that man is so utterly debased in scripture, that he is not even capable of being saved at all; until they recognize this fact, they are simply more corrupted semi-Arminians. Preaching the ONLY truly God-centered doctrine, Otis Otis homepage The man-centered jerk whose site I hacked Satire disclaimer